Improvement in revolving fire-arms



.v 4 2 Sheets---Sheet 1. J. M; COOPER.

Revolver.

Patented Sept. 4, 1860:

w itn-eg ses,

2 Sheets-Sheet I .I. M. COOPER.

Revolver.

No. 29,864. 4 I Patented Sept. 4, 1860.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 6

STA ES J. M'ASLIN' COOPER, oR PIr-msBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT m REVOLVINGFIREARMS.

I i T Specification forming part (if Letters Patent-No. 29,964, dated September 4, 1860.,

flo all whom it may concern:

Be' it known that I,'J.tMEsMAsmit COOPER; of the city of- Pittsburg, in thecouhty of AL leghe'ny-and State of Pennsylvania, hare invented certain new and useful Improvements in Revolving" -Breech Fire Arms; and t I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to thefann'exed drawings, formingpart off thisspe'cificatiomin which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a. re-

' volving fire-arm constructed with myimp'rove-. ments, and showing the several parts of the.

lock .at rest before'firing. Fig. 2 represents the revolving breech in section and a side View Y 'ofithe-hamm'er and triggerand other parts of the lock, excepting ,the'driver'for revolving the breech,in their position when the hammer is raised "to. half-cock either by raising the 1 hammer or pulling. the trigger. Fig. 3 is a similar View of therevo'lving' breech and hammer, trigger, apd other parts of the lock,.ex

eept the driver, when the'ham'mer has been raised to full-cock by means of the trigger and -to receive the locking-bolt. Fig. 6 is a'scction of the revolvingbreech'throngh mm, Fig; 5, at right angles to its axis. Fig. 7 iso perspective representation of the triggerof my pistol, showing the projection for locking the cylinder so as to be safe from accidental discharge, the collar around the trigger-pin, on which the locking-boltttirns. Fig. 8 is a perspective representation of the locking-bolt detached from the trigger.. In Fig. 7= the trigger is turned upside down, and -in'Fig. 8 the.- coking-bolt is in a.correspondingpo'sition.: 4

- In thn'sei' eral figures like letters of refereucedenote similar'parts; I

v My improvementsconsist in the peculiar arrangement andcon's-tructioui -of the parts ,of the.lock,-w hereby I secure greater-ease in firm g tif iid'fe'duce thezsweep of theftifiiggeg;:also, in.

' ihe'nse'ofa projection at the end of the trigger, in 1 combination with recesses in the cirwhen' thetr'igger is not drawn back, the re a'gains'tthe breech between two of thenipples great measure-the danger of premature or ac eiden'tal' discher'ge'of thefpiece'; also, in the use of a locking-bolt fo'r fastening the breech at the moment offiring, operated by the triglar around the trigger-pimfsohs. to secure it "construction.

'of the pirtsToftheilock of my pistol is that d'erneaththe point of the 'trigger,"so that the firing, I save a portion of the. sweep of the trigger, the length'of which has been an obobviate in a greetmeas'nre'by the hammer, trigger, and vibrating tooth, as hereinafter described. V 1 .E

In the drawings, a represents the stock of the pistol; b, thebarrelg 0, the revolvin g cylin- {der or breech, which rotates onits eiiis on the spindle 11. These parts, with the exception of the notches on the breech, may be ofordinary the lock-frame by a hammer-pin at The trigger f is pivoted tothe lock-frame at i. The 'frontend of the'tri gger, aronnd the hole through which the trigger-pinpnsses, is reducedin thickness on one side only, excepting close around the hole for thetri'gger-pin, where it is the trigger-pin hole,:asseen at 9, Fig. 7. On

Fig. 8,) which is" made of a plate of steel, somewhat thinner than the recess formed by reduc- ,'ing the" thickness of the trigger at that point.

' "bolt, which is very important to the perfection.

of r'evolvingfire-arms. Thislocking-bolt hea'd atl which passes througha slot in the 'cnmt'erence of the rotatingbreech, whereby,

volv'ing breech may beqseeur'edin'such epo-v sition thatthe end .of the hammerz'will rest .andnotJupon one'ot vthem,1thus avoiding-ins.

ge'r and trigger-spring, and working" on, a col-,.

from enycpressnre' ofthe lock-frame, thus se curing certainty of action and simplicity of 7 One ofvth'e pecuheritis of the arrang ment by keepingthe toe ofithe hammer always un trigger need 'not pass "it when reacting 'a'fterf jection totrigger' operating fire-arms. This I.

construction. The hammer e is fe'stcned'to left the-full thickness, makinga. collar around.

this collar 9 is placed the locking-bolt h,(sce' 2 I 29, so4

. gaged from the breech, except just previously to the timeof firing.

There is a projection, I, on the front end. of

I the trigger, which passes through aslot in the lock-frame and engages the recesses m, &c., in the circumference of the rotating breech, which are so situated that when the projection I entersa recess, n, in the breech the breech shall be secured from rotation until the trigger is again pulled, and shallbe 'so situate in relation'to the'hammer that the hammer shall not rest upon nor be in range with anyof the nipples, but between twoo't them, and

thus the possibility of discharge of the piece by the hammer striking any of the nipples is I obviated.

Intermediate between the recesses n. n in the face of the breech are depressions m, with sloping sides, 'so as .to allow the trigger to come forward after the pistol is fired, and yet permit the breech to be turned until the projection on the trigger enters one of the safety-recesses n, the sides of which being straight, the. breech cannot turn until the trigger is drawn.

This difl'erence between the depressions mand j safety-recesses n 1s shown in Fig. 6.

On the trigger is a vibrating tooth, 1', (see Fig. 7,) which is pivoted to the trigger at t, so'as to workin a recess, 0, in'the front end of the trigger. It is pressed up against the face of the hammer by a smallspring, 8. (Sr in Fig. 4.) This vibrating tooth is so arran-ed in connection with the hammer as that its point rests in a notch in the face of the hammer at 13 when the hammer is down, and 'on drawing the trigger the vibrating tooth, pressing upward against the face of the hammer, raises it first to the point of half-cock, (shown in Fig. 2,) at which it is retained by the pawl q, as seen in Fig. 2.

' On further drawing back the trigger the hammer is still further raised until the point of the vibrating tooth rpasses out of th'e notch and carries the pawl q out of the descent of the hammer, as seen in Fig. 3, so that it falls clear upon the nipple of the revolving breech and fires the piece. When the pistol is at. halfcock, as in Fig. 2, it will he noticed that the revolving breech is not locked, either by the head of the locking-bolt h or by the projection lat the end of the trigger, -and thus the breech is free to be rotated by hand for loading, or'

otherwise, whenevert-he hammer is raised to half-cock, either by drawing the trigger or raising the hammer by hand.

When it is desired to cook the pistol before 'fi'ring it is done by raising the hammer by hand, in which case theatoeof the hammer presses against the point of [the trigger, raising it up and drawing back the trigger until the parts assume the position shown in Fig. 3, of .full.-cock, in which position the parts are re-' 7 tainedby a. hook or point,u,' at the toe of the hammer, which rests upona ledgeor neck, 11, on the under side of the toe of the trigger. The shape of the toeof the hammer andpoint of the trigger is seen better in Fig. 1

-It will be seen by'examining'Figs. 1 to'4,

which show the various relative positions-of the hammer, trigger, and locking-bolt before.

and during the aet'of firing a'ndiafter firing,

that the point of the trigger never passes under the toe of the hammer, butrests' against it, the action of the hammer on the trigger during the raising of the hammer byhand being very slight, the point of the hammer slipping'along the toe of the trigger until the hook on the hammer engages the ledge on the trigger'and never passing over it, so'that, the

pistol cocks with but little sweep of the trigger. 'When the pistolis cocked by hammer the vibrating tooth serves to'keep the'pawl q outof the road on the descent of the hammer,

and is also necessary to render the pistol-trig- 'ger operating as well. 7 i i The driver for revolving the rotating breech theproper degree to bring a bore in the breech in line with the barrel is'se'en at w, Fig. 1, near 7 the point of the trigger, being placed on the pin 00. (See Fig. 7.) r

- Having thus described my improvement in revolving fire-arms, what'I claim as my invention, anddesire to secure by Letters-Patent, j

scribed, operated by the trigger spring and trigger, workingon' a collar on the trigger,

around the trigger-pin, so as to prevent its acd with by the pressure of tionbeing interfer the sides of-the loc -frame. v

-2. The use of aprojection at the front end of the trigger, projecting through the. lockframe and pressing againstthe circumference of the rotating-breech, incombination with suitable recesses in the circumferenceof the rotating'cylinder, whereby, when the trigger is not'drawn back and the parts are at rest,

the cylinder will be secured from rotation in such a position 'that'the end of the hammer will be situate between two of the'nipples and not upon or in front of any of them, thus avoiding in a great measure the danger of a premature or accidental discharge. 7

3. The arrangement of the trigger hammer,

and vibrating tooth, constructed as escribed, for the purposes hereinbefore described.

J. MASLIN COOPER.

Witnesses:

BENJN. F. SHELDON, MARTlN G. Onsnme.

-1. The use of a. locking-bolt suchas dc 

